Losop Interview – 2015 Highly Commended Artist

Losop is an Australian artists whose works incorporate a range techniques including photorealism, acrylic and freehand painting. Losop is no stranger to the Stencil Art Prize, having been a finalist four times in the last five years. This year, his art piece 1053 earned him the title of Highly Commended Artist. The artwork 1053 is a callback to all his work in 2014. It features 1053 lined up scalpel blades used to create all of his artworks in 2014. We recently caught up with him and here is what he had to say:

Q; Losop, can you describe to us the feeling of being one of our highly commended artists this year?

Winning a highly commended award took me by complete surprise to be honest, I think this years exhibition definitely exceeded all previous years so it feels great to be recognized amongst such talented artists.

Q; Can you tell us what your artwork is about?

My artwork is composed of the 1053 scalpel blades that I used to cut my stencils in 2014. The piece discusses the process of cutting in stencil art and I suppose the point of the work is to question what stencil art actually is/ what it can be. I find that the process cutting stencils is constantly overlooked by many stencil artists, considering it consists of about 80% of my artistic process I felt that it deserved some investigation. Each blade has been defined by the process of cutting and then put on display in a format similar to an insect specimen draw so that the blades can be clearly inspected by the viewer. The grid format of the blades is an analogy for the rigid nature of the stencil art process and I have deliberately used this as a symbol to challenge the conventions of stencil art as a discipline.

Other than the blades themselves there aren’t really any traditional stencil techniques within the artwork, but this also the entire point of the work. I think it is important for artists to continue to push the boundaries of stencil art by experimenting with non-traditional techniques and materials.

Q; As one of our highly commended artists this year, what does the future hold for you?

I am currently working on my next solo show, if everything goes to plan it will take place mid February 2016 in Melbourne.

Q; Tell us what you’ve learnt during your time in this year’s Stencil Art Prize?

It is evident to me after seeing this years stencil art prize that the art form is continuing evolve swiftly, there is so much talent out there and it is great to see that the stencil community is growing.